Flood preparations continue, access to levees to be cut off

Published 1:10 am Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Duffy Gillory lays down a sheet of plastic while helping set up Hesco baskets in Natchez Under-the-Hill Tuesday afternoon. (Nicole Hester/The Natchez Democrat)

Duffy Gillory lays down a sheet of plastic while helping set up Hesco baskets in Natchez Under-the-Hill Tuesday afternoon. (Nicole Hester/The Natchez Democrat)

VIDALIA — All access to the Mississippi River levee system will be cut off to non-authorized personnel at the end of the business week.

Fifth Louisiana Levee District President Reynold Minsky said the district is “not having any problems right now” with its flood fight as near-record high water moves down the Mississippi River, but starting Friday the district will begin 24-hour levee patrols.

The district has been doing 12-hour patrols, which began Monday.

Flood waters along Old River in Vidalia nearly cover a no parking sign along Minorca Road. (Nicole Hester/The Natchez Democrat)

Flood waters along Old River in Vidalia nearly cover a no parking sign along Minorca Road. (Nicole Hester/The Natchez Democrat)

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Once access to the levees has been closed, access will only be given to authorized employees with the Department of Transportation and Development, the levee board, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Minsky said.

“We don’t want anybody on the levees at all, and after Friday, the levees are completely closed, landowners included,” he said. “They need to get everything they can out before Friday.”

Violators will be subject to ticketing from Wildlife and Fisheries, Minsky said.

Even as levee district personnel plan to scale up their flood fight, the National Weather Service’s River Forecast Center is holding to a slight reduction in the anticipated crest that was forecast Monday.

When the high water was first forecast Jan. 4, the anticipated crest in Natchez was 60 feet on Jan. 18, which has now been reduced to 59 feet on Jan. 17.

Sammy King of Winnsboro, La., shovels sand into Hesco baskets. (Nicole Hester/The Natchez Democrat)

Sammy King of Winnsboro, La., shovels sand into Hesco baskets. (Nicole Hester/The Natchez Democrat)

Flood stage at Natchez-Vidalia is 48 feet, while the record high water is 61.95 feet.

NWS Hydrologist Marty Pope said the reduced projection was in made in part because of overtopping of levees around Cape Girard and Thebes, Mo., but also because a dam system in Kentucky cut off some of the flow that would have gone into the crest at Cairo, Ill., water that would have made its way to the Miss-Lou.

“This is probably where we are going to sit for quite a while until we see if the water from the Arkansas River acts a little differently,” NWS Hydrologist Marty Pope said.

“The water from the Arkansas River got in with a little less flow than they expected, so they made the final adjustments (Monday).

“The greatest concern we have right now is what falls in the Arkansas River, and the crest (on the Mississippi River) will not get down to this area before Jan. 10, so any additional that comes out of the Arkansas could have the potential to boost things up a little bit, so we will be watching what happens there in the next 10 days or so.”

Approximately 1.5 inches of rain are expected over the Arkansas valley over the next seven days, Pope said, which will likely fill in behind the crest, “so it shouldn’t add too much to it, it will just keep the river up right now.”

Even with the reduction in the crest, water is expected to impact the Vidalia Riverfront, which takes on floodwaters at 58 feet.

Vidalia Public Relations Director Sheri Rabb said the city is keeping its current plans to build a temporary ring levee around the buildings on the Riverfront with Hesco baskets in place.

Piles of sand sit ready to be shoveled into the baskets at Natchez Under-the-Hill Tuesday. (Nicole Hester/The Natchez Democrat)

Piles of sand sit ready to be shoveled into the baskets at Natchez Under-the-Hill Tuesday. (Nicole Hester/The Natchez Democrat)

“We are keeping a close eye on the river levels, and will make all of those decisions based on information from U.S. Army Corps, homeland security, our engineers, and all data provided by them and others,” she said.

The river is expected to be at 51.1 feet at 6 a.m. today, and is expected to rise at least a foot every day for the next three days.

The second-highest ever recorded crest was set in 1937 at 58.04 feet.